Looking for a non-problematic GPU

[Insania]

Hey everyone. I'm looking to build myself my first computer in the next few months. I've been having some difficulty choosing what type of graphics card I should get, so perhaps some of you could help me decide?

In the past, I had a ATi Radeon 9800 Pro that overheated, and is totally unusable. I am a little bit reluctant to get another Radeon product because of this, but I've also heard the new GeForce drivers are causing a lot of issues.

Basically, I'm looking for a card that's known for it's reliability.

My price range is around $130 Canadian.

I'll probably be running my resolution at 1024 x 768, so I'll have most in game settings pretty high.

The main card on my mind is the GeForce 7600 (XFX maybe), but just Googling the name comes up with a bunch of problem related topics. So would X1600 be a better choice?

 

[Valtiel]

All hardware is bound to have problems. Thankfully they are not that prevalent (usually). nVidia seems to be the most stable in the terms of driver side. If you have another problem with an overheated card (I think the 9800pro ran hot anyway) then I would definitely look into something other than a stable card but regardless problems should not be on your mind when you are purchasing computer hardware. It jinxs it .

I would go for an eVGA 7600GT (double lifetime warranty, covers overclocking) if I were you. The price/performance is hard to beat and seeing as it is a highly recommended card here on THGC I highly doubt it will be a shakey card to deal with.

 

[marneus]

If you want reliabiity rather than top performance, it will depend on more than just the card... eg hows the airflow in your case, good PSU etc...

I would suggest a passively cooled card that is not overclocked if you have good airflow (ie good fans with high cfm rates & cables tidied away well)

Nvidia vs ATi, not real difference, check the reviews on them to see if the core runs hot naturally, some series run cooler than others
eg 7600gs vs 7600gt or 1900Pro vs 1900XTX

 

[the_stiffmeister]

Nothing wrong with ATI cards. IMO normally better value than Nvidia. If you can stretch to a 1900XT get it